Embodiments of the invention relate to use of a power-scavenging receiver (e.g., RFID) to generate a signal to be used to control operational state. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to use of the power-scavenging receiver to cause changes in operational state of a wired or wireless communications or computing device.
When electronic devices operate using wireless communications protocols, it is common for the power consumption required for transmitting and receiving wireless signals to be a significant portion of the overall power consumption of the electronic device. Various techniques have been used in an attempt to reduce power consumption. These techniques include leaving the receiver continuously on, receiving all data, waiting for any packets that are destined for the specific electronic system. However, this is very wasteful of battery power.
Another technique that may consume less power is to place the receiver in a sleep/parked mode and to use watchdog timers to schedule synchronized wake up events to acknowledge and resynchronize with the network. During resynchronization, status information about messages can be communicated, and the transceiver system can determine whether to receive the messages or resume the sleep/parked mode. However, placing a device is a sleep/parked mode may increase latencies and decrease overall system performance.